January 2016 Articles

Listen now to our interview originally aired on KNSJ Radio 89.1 FM by clicking the orange link above, or download by clicking the blue link.

February 4, 2016 (Lakeside) -- Windwalker and the MCW (Multi-Cultural Women) have been nominated for a Grammy Award for their CD, "Generations."

We sat down for an in-depth interview with Windwalker, a Lakeside resident, medicine woman and talented Native American musician. She talked about their music, shared samples of their inspiring songs, and discussed their upcoming music video that including filming at a wild horse preserve.

All proceeds from Windwalker and the MCW CD are being donated to benefit children's causes.

Audio:

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – The San Diego County Planning Commission, after months of review and public input on proposed changes to the tiered winery ordinance, will hold a hearing on Friday, February 5th on the proposed zoning ordinance amendment. In addition, planners will consider a proposed map for the Hoskings Ranch residential development project in Julian.

Some winery owners voice continuing concerns over the proposed changes. Teri Kerns, co-owner of Ramona Ranch Winery, told East County Magazine, "We are pleased to see that a few of our suggestions have been incorporated, for example, allowing the wineries to be open until 6 pm during the winter hours, and increasing van capacity to 15 but disappointed that the majority have not been. We are concerned that new wineries will not be able to open, given the restrictions on structures and codes and disagree with the County's broad prohibition on events and parties, amplified music, and the stand against advertising.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

Our December 2015 radio shows are now online! You can listen online now (sound files may take a minute to load). For links to listen to the shows plus a full list of topics and interviews in December, click here and scroll down.

Our newsmaker interviews included climate scientist Jeffrey Severinghaus of Scripps Institute, Assembly candidate Mike Harrison, authors Caitlin Rother (Then No One Can Have Her) and Bill Swank (Christmas in San Diego), geologist Norrie Robbins on her efforts to bring science to kids on Native American reservations, and Jawdat Al Obeidi on a Chaldean youth conference, plus some “best of East County” reruns including some holiday favorites.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (San Diego) – East County Magazine Show’s Bookshelf host Reina Menasche recently had a fascinating interview with New York Times. bestselling author Caitlin Rother . Also a Pulitzer-nominated journalist formerly with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Rother discussed her latest true-crime book, Then No One Can Have Her.

The book chronicles the life and murder of Carol Kennedy, an artist, therapist and mother of two, just weeks after her divorce. Her ex-husband, investment broker Steve DeMocker, was convicted of murdering Kennedy in the small mountain town of Prescott, Arizona, though his family contends he was wrongly convicted.

Audio:

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (San Diego) — “The worst environmental disaster in California history is continuing to occur without any investigation by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC),” says Raymond Lutz, founder of Citizens Oversight in El Cajon. Now, Citizens Oversight has filed a petition along with Consumer Watchdog and Paul E. Hunt, calling on the CPUC to hold an open investigation into the Aliso Canyon/Porter Ranch methane gas leak north of Los Angeles.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

Update: A Santee mother has been injured after a tree fell on her van, but her baby, also in the vehicle, is unharmed, KNSJ reports.

January 31, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Powerful winds and rains have resulted in numerous power outages, downed lines and fallen trees on roas and highway across our region in San Diego and East County.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) --Congresswoman Susan Davis was our special guest on the East County Magazine radio show on KNSJ on January 21st.

She shared highlights of the past Congressional session, her legislative efforts, and what we can expect in the coming year. Topics covered include education reforms, college affordability, healthcare, hate targeting religious minorities, support for military women, families and veterans. She also spoke out on the need to prevent future infrastructure disasters such as the L.A. natural gas leak and Flint water poisoning, both the results of regulatory failures.

Audio:

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (Ramona) -- Love is in the air at the Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona. The February Open Farm Tour and Show on Valentine’s Day weekend February 13 and 14 from 1-4 p.m. features bouncy baby lambs, curious camels you can ride and cuddle, plus the oh-so-fun Camel Dairy Animal Friends Show.

You can also pamper yourself and the ones you love with something special from the RARE MILK Camel Milk Skin Care product line and try a bit of decadent camel milk chocolate.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

By Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

January 31, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Ensure you’re on the winning team with these safety tips:

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 31, 2016 (Spring Valley) - On a brisk, chilly night in Spring Valley, I and other members of the Saps at Sea, the San Diego Chapter of the Sons of the Desert, the official Laurel & Hardy fan organization, gathered at Williams Hall at Trinity Church for a night of laughter and delicious cake at intermission.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego's East County) – San Diego supervisors will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 2nd and 3rd this week. The agenda includes some important items for East County.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (Lakeside) – On Tuesday, February 2, the Lakeside Community Planning Group is expected to vote on over $250,000 in improvements to Lindo Lake Park. Final public comments will be heard from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the meeting in the Lakeside Community Center, 9841 Vine Street in Lakeside. After several community workshops, planning group members are set to approve a final design concept from among four plans considered.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego) — Literary lovers will find a wealth of activities coming up locally for both readers and writers, from author appearances to a major writer’s conference, as well as a reading of Valentine’s sonnets and much more.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (Washington D.C.) – This week, the White House Task Force on New Americans (Task Force) launched the White House Regional Convenings on New Americans. This initiative, aimed at strengthening and supporting local immigrant and refugee integration efforts, is part of a multi-city tour that will run over the course of the next several months.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (La Mesa) – the La Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club invites you to a Spring Tea fundraiser honoring four distinguished San Diego women. The honorees are Kathi Anderson, director of Survivors of Torture International, Bobbi Brink, founder of Lions, Tigers and Bears, Mimi Pollack, a writer for East County Magazine, and Estela de los Rios, executive director of CSA of San Diego County. The tea will be held on Saturday, March 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Noah Homes, 12526 Campo Road in Spring Valley.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) — The “pro-life” movement ignores the lives of expectant mothers—and that’s both heartless and dangerous. Nobody should force their religious views onto a woman with a life-threatening pregnancy, or a woman who learns her child has an incurable, debilitating defect such as the thousands of women in Brazil who contracted Zika virus and gave birth to babies with severe brain damage. In some Latin American countries, women have no choice even if they contract Zika in the first trimester – since abortion is illegal but the disease is rampant.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- Unbelievably another Roe v Wade anniversary is upon us as the dead babies number about 58 million lives lost after 43 years. Do these lives matter?

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 30, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) -- The latest car-to-car shooting incident earlier this month on Interstate 8 brings the total to three in the last year, and four in the last three years, prompting the question whether this stretch of freeway from 70th Street east to Los Coches Road is particularly dangerous.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

During the school year, low-income children have the opportunity to receive free or reduced-price meals at school. However, millions of these same children go hungry during summer break. The President’s budget will address this summer meals gap by investing $12 billion to scale up the successful Summer EBT demonstration project that has decreased hunger among participating children by about 33 percent while increasing healthy food intake.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (Alpine) – Bruce Cochrane, Superintendent of the Alpine Union School District, has given notice that he will be leaving the position he has held since mid-2014.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) - Chargers fans, look forward to at least a year of good night's sleeps.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) – Now that Hollywood has released all of its Oscar hopefuls, it’s time to sift through the leftovers. January is the month where you’ll be hard-pressed to find a decent movie. Even when you do, the chances are high that it’s not even worth a discounted ticket. It’s a truth that all film critics quickly learn.

The Finest Hours (Craig Gillespie, 2016) is bland and vanilla, made as if it was designed for a January dumping. Perhaps I’m being cynical, but this outlook may not be so unfounded when you see that Disney is the studio responsible for this movie. After all, Disney made, and continues to make, a box office killing with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015), and could certainly afford to write this one off.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (Lemon Grove) -- They come from a variety of backgrounds and each has different challenges, but for one hour a week in the Lemon Grove Library, a group of special needs adults all have one thing in common: their enthusiasm.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) -- It is everywhere in the news — the Zika virus. It’s a mosquito-driven virus new to the Americas that has been virtually harmless to most people but also linked to a serious birth defect. It’s prompted travel warnings to Mexico and several South American and Central American countries, as well as anxious questions from the media and the public.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) -- With an unusually intense winter weather season predicted, San Diego County Fire and CAL FIRE have doubled the ranks of swiftwater rescue-trained firefighters this year. CAL FIRE team members and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department fire-rescue helicopter unit are also working together in case they have to pluck someone out of the water from above.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

Amendment would direct energy secretary to lead federal review of cause and response to the crisis, make recommendations to solve the gas leak that has forced 3,000 families to evacuate, and prevent future incidents

Photo credit to Scott L. on Flickr

East County News Service

January 29, 2016 (Washington D.C.) — California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein announced Friday that they will introduce an amendment next week to energy legislation currently on the Senate floor. The amendment would direct Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to lead a broad federal review of the cause and response to the natural gas leak at Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility – including making recommendations on immediate steps that could assist in solving this gas leak and in preventing and responding to future incidents.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (San Diego) -- If you are a low-income family or individual, save your money. The County can help you file your taxes completely free—and assist you in receiving federal and state Earned Income Tax Credits that could amount to thousands of dollars in your pocket.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 29, 2016 (Jacumba) — Eric Kallen, who runs the websitewww.JacumbaBirding.comhas counted over 191 species of birds in Jacumba Hot Springs, a high-desert community in San Diego’s East County. “I’ve had 124 species in my backyard,” he says.

Now is a great time to go bird-watching there, since you can see wintering and year-round species as well as some early spring migratory visitors. Here are photos taken this January of a Scott’s Oriole, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and Costa’s Hummingbird, with notes from Kallen on each:

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.

January 28, 2016 (San Diego) -- The programmers for the San Diego Latino Film Festival, presented by Fashion Valley, are pleased to announce the official Spotlight Films selections for its 23rd edition, set to take place March 10-20 at AMC Fashion Valley 18.

Error message

Local news in the public interest is more important now than ever, during the COVID-19 crisis. Our reporters, as essential workers, are dedicated to keeping you informed, even though we’ve had to cancel fundraising events. Please give the gift of community journalism by donating at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate.